Residents of Australia’s Norfolk Island are cleaning up after Cyclone Gabrielle, heading to New Zealand, battered the tiny external territory in the Pacific Ocean.

Gabrielle, now downgraded to a sub-tropical low pressure system, passed over Norfolk Island on Saturday night with the storm’s “most destructive winds” missing the island, the Australian outpost’s emergency management authority said.

In NZ, 1460 kilometres to the south, the nation’s weather forecaster warned of the storm’s impact from Sunday. Last month its biggest city Auckland was hit by record rainfall that sparked floods and killed four people.

Air New Zealand on Saturday cancelled several North Island flights scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of bad weather.

On Norfolk Island, which covers just over 34 square kilometres in the Pacific Ocean, between New Caledonia and NZ, authorities were clearing debris and trees from roads and restoring power knocked out overnight.

“There is still considerable clean up to be undertaken and it may take a while for services such as power to be restored,” Emergency Management Norfolk Island said.

Its 2000 residents, some descended from British sailors who mutinied on the HMS Bounty in the 18th century, had been “extremely fortunate” with the passage of the cyclone, the agency said, as winds eased and an all-clear was issued.

As Gabrielle tracks south, Auckland Emergency Management has warned the city is likely to be hit by strong winds on Sunday night, with gusts of up to 140km/h or higher predicted from Monday.

“This system poses a very high risk of extreme, impactful, and unprecedented weather over many regions of the North Island from Sunday to Tuesday,” weather forecaster, MetService, said Sunday.